2018-01-20 00:04 My memories of Moko
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Yesterday was a very sad day. One of my cats, Moko, died. His age was 15 years old. I had been living with Moko for about 13 years. 13 years ...they were long and happy days.
The first opportunity to see him was on a website for finding foster parents for cats and dogs. I contacted the animal welfare group who had kept Moko and let them know my blog that was mostly written about my cats. Usually, animal welfare groups make sure where an applicant lives because some rented houses don't allow keeping pets, and most groups visit the applicant's house to make sure. They saw my blog and gave me a permission to have Moko.
I talked with a woman who had been keeping Moko. She said that Moko was found on a roadside by a woman who didn't have her own child. She took him to her home and grew him, but she abandoned him after her baby was born and he was taken to the animal welfare. However, same as the other animal welfare groups, the group that accepted Moko had so many cats and dogs. They tried to keep their cats and dogs as much as they could, but it was getting impossible. Therefore, the cats and dogs that had been living there for a long time were chosen and taken to the vet for euthanasia. One day, Moko was chosen. He was taken to the vet, but the vet looked at him and said he had a policy that he will not kill cats and dogs that are young and healthy, and he refused euthanasia. Moko's life was saved. However, the woman who had been keeping Moko had no idea what to do next. She asked her friend and was recommended to upload his photo to one of the famous websites, and then I saw that photo. The woman of the animal welfare group was so glad to know that I applied.
I met her and Moko at Shinjuku Station, one of the busiest stations in Japan. I think Moko was very scared. Then my husband and I took him home, it was spring of 2005.
I named him Moko because he had a gorgeous coat. Moko moko means fluffy in Japanese.
At the time Moko came to our house, we already had two cats, Kuma and Kemeko. At first, Moko was scared but he got used to the other two cats, and especially he liked the older male cat, Kuma. Moko always followed Kuma like a kitten follows its mum. Moko was a big boy and looking at the two cats he was walking along with, I thought Moko looked like a bodyguard of Kuma. However, actually he was a little timid and his personality was far from a bodyguard's one.
Moko was a big cat, so he was strong, and we sometimes had trouble with keeping him steady at the vet when he took a vaccine. The vet said that he might have Maine Coon's DNA because he was quite big. He was very sporty and could jump high. I remember that well, but it feels like a long time ago.
For the past two years, he had been losing his muscles and getting weak. We took him to the specialist, but they couldn't find the reason. Last month, I knew that he would not be able to survive long, so I gave him anything that he wanted to eat. His last was peaceful.
Thank you, Moko. I really think the days that I spent with you were wonderful.
